Candidate Comes To See Funds In Action Rinehart, Running For Governor, Checks Out Computers At Spokane Falls Community College

State Sen. Nita Rinehart, a Democratic candidate for governor, went back to college Tuesday.

On a tour at Spokane Falls Community College, she saw for herself how technology is changing the way students learn.

In a computer lab, Rinehart met older students who are upgrading their on-line skills to be more competitive in the job market.

At age 52, Jim Goodrich said he enrolled at SFCC because an injury ended his 30-year truck-driving career. He hopes computer skills will help him become a trucking dispatcher.

Much of the course work, he said, was done alone in the lab with an instructor available for questions.

“I feel very much this program is going to be a help,” he said.

The certificate program takes between six and nine months and is designed to enhance other degrees or existing job skills.

For Rinehart, of Seattle, the tour provided a chance to see what state colleges are doing with money she and other lawmakers hand out each year.

Colleges and technology have become darlings in the political world.

The Legislature just passed $54 million to build a high-tech computer network for colleges and public schools, and money for another 2,780 students was added to the budget.

The college spending was the largest single addition to the 1996-97 supplemental budget.

President Clinton last month visited Shoreline Community College in Seattle to extol the virtues of technical training.

At that appearance, Microsoft’s Bill Gates announced a $10 million gift of software to the state’s community and technical colleges, of which about $1.3 million is coming to Spokane.

For years, higher education spending slipped in Washington, going from 16 percent of the state budget in 1983 to 11 percent this year.

Rinehart, who entered the Legislature in 1979, said lawmakers are starting to get pressure from the public to enhance college opportunities. One way is to invest in technology to improve the delivery of education, and make room for more students, she said.

Last year, the Legislature approved money for buying computers and electronic connections.

People increasingly realize the importance of education in getting good steady jobs, she said.

“It’s absolutely critical to the future that we have access to higher education,” Rinehart said.

, DataTimes